Detroit versus Everybody certainly rings true for one player on Northern Illinois, Mycial Allen, a Detroit native whose gone through quite a bit in his young life, only to come back home and play his final collegiate game.
“I just had to soak it all in, walk into a Ford Field it’s like a dream come true to play your last college game here, I actually walked from end zone to end zone to just cherish the moment,” Senior defensive back Mycial Allen said.
Allen has seen the highs, as he was on the MAC championship team back in 2014, but he knows all to well the lows, as during his childhood and teen years, he saw the violence and crime on the east side of the city take hold of some of his friends and classmates.
But Allen, stayed true to his dream and focused on separating himself from that, that journey wasn’t always easy, but fulfilling in the end.
“To go through the things that I went through as a child, just he gang activity in the city, many kids don’t make it through high school or even go to college, or be a college athlete, just to do that it’s a blessing,” Allen stated.
“The growth that he’s had from 18 to 22 years old is probably what most of us experience 18 to 35, is really how much he’s grown up and that’s a credit to him,” Northern Illinois head coach Rod Carey said.
The journey has come full circle, Allen was even asked about training for the NFL combine after this game.
He will focus on raising his daughter, continue to visit Martin Luther King High School to help advise other young people along the way.
